


Metanoia

by LiliaMarshall



Category: House of Wax (2005)
Genre: F/M, house of wax - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:15:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29279829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiliaMarshall/pseuds/LiliaMarshall
Summary: In a world where soulmates exist, what would you do if your soul is cracked?
Relationships: Bo Sinclair/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 10





	Metanoia

Heavy rock mixed with the sound of a roaring engine made Lily feel at peace. The long stretch of road ahead of her, the greenery all around, the sound of gravel crunching under tires, it was all so very peaceful. She'd always loved long car rides. The opportunity to let everything drift away and just simply be, her mind somewhere far away, it was amazing. 

She was going home. Where home was, she didn't exactly know, but she wasn't going to stop until she found it. 

Letting out a sigh, she leaned back into her seat, a content smile lifting her face. She couldn't remember anything being this peaceful in years.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and so it did. In the form of a loud metallic sound.

Lily frowned, debating what to do. She had long since passed anything familiar, and she hadn't seen a gas station for the last fifty miles, at the least. Biting her lip, she glanced around the street quickly, eyes landing on a billboard. Trudy's house of wax, five miles ahead, in a town called Ambrose.

Nodding to herself, she made up her mind. Tourist Attractions meant tourists, and tourists meant civilization. There would be a mechanic, or at least someone who had a little knowledge on cars that could help her there.

Hitting her gas, Lily sped up, hoping to reach the town of Ambrose before her car got any worse. 

It wasn't long before she reached a gas station, a few people standing outside. She quickly pulled in, putting her car into park and shutting it off. 

"Hey," she called, stepping halfway out of her car. "Do you guys work here?"

The woman stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chest. "No," she said, "we're just waiting for the owner to come help us find a fan belt." 

Lily laughed, nervously rubbing her wrists. "Y'all too, huh?" She asked, wincing as her finger ran across a particularly tender scar. 

"Yeah, and this guy has everything but a fifteen inch," said the man, reaching up and grabbing a fan belt. "Guess I'll have to try the sixteen inch, maybe can work something out."

Lily opened her mouth to remind him he should wait for the owner of the station to arrive before taking stuff but before she could get the words out, another voice sounded from behind her. 

"Plan on stealin' that?" 

The three of them all jerked around to face the speaker. There, in the doorway, stood a tall man in a blue mechanic uniform leaning on the doorframe, one hand on his hip.

"Guess that's the station owner," Lily muttered to herself, looking down at the floor, taking a step away from the man holding the fan belt. She didn't want the station owner thinking she was with him, not when he'd been caught looking so guilty. 

"No! We just didn't know how much longer you were gonna be and you know, we, uh, didn't want to interrupt again," said the guy, "but I, uh, left some money on the counter." 

Lily raised her brow at the guy. Leaving money on the counter still didn't excuse attempting to take something from someone without permission. 

"But, uh, you don't even have the right side, you don't have any fifteen inches." 

Lily's brow raised higher. Just because the station didn't have the right size gave him the right to take what he pleased? Okay then. If only the real world worked that way. 

The other woman stepped forward, "I hope you're not getting the wrong idea that we're in here," she said.

"Nah, it's okay," the station owner said, snagging the money off the counter.

"Does that cover it?"

"Close enough. You know, why don't you go up to the house and get the one you need, it's only a couple blocks."

"Yeah, alright," said the woman.

Lily cleared her throat. "Uh, wait, I'm not with them," she said, rubbing at her wrists harder. Nervous habits were hard to break. "Do you maybe know what Would cause something to drag?" 

The man smiled, blue eyes shining kindly, and the words southern charm popped into Lily's head. "Can't tell ya exactly without looking at it, sweetheart, but tell ya what," he started, "why don't you come down to the house to get the fan belt for these lovely folks and then when we get back, I'll take a look?"

Lily grinned. "Thank you so much," she said, stepping forward without thinking, throwing her arms around the man. She realized instantly what she'd done, stepping back quickly. "Uh, sorry," she muttered, face flushed. "I'm a hugger. I hug. Didn't mean to get into your space like that."

"Ah, don't worry about it, sugar," the man's smile was more of a smirk now, eyes raking her form with an unknown glint in them, landing on her wrists. His eyebrows furrowed and his lips pursed but just as he went to speak again, another voice filled the emptiness. 

"Hate to interrupt but uh, you keep fan belts at your house?"

Lily was glad for the interruption. She didn't like for people to notice her scars. Not because she was ashamed of them, no, she wore them with pride. After all, they weren't just a part of her, but they were apart of him first. Though, however proud she was, she didn't like to listen to people talk shit about her mate, and that's what always happened. 

"Yeah, get em' delivered there when I'm not here," said the mechanic, eyes still focused on her wrists, before he shook his head and looked away, eyes getting a dark flint behind them. "Look, if you wanna hold onto the sixteen inch, that's fine by me."

"No!" Said the woman, walking forward. "No, no no, that's okay." 

Lily sighed, beginning to follow them out. 

"Hey, you mind if I use your restroom?" 

"Oh!" Lily piped up, "me too, please."

The mechanic nodded. "Up at the house. This ones outta order."

As they walked, The boy who had been introduced as Wade said, "is it too late to enter Carly into that pageant?"

The mechanic laughed, "well unfortunately it is cause' you woulda won hands down," he said, glancing over at Lily on his other side, "less', of course, this one here entered too."

"Thank you," lily muttered along with Carly. 

"So that house of wax is pretty cool," said Wade.

"You went inside?" Asked the mechanic, playing with his ring. Lily tried not to stare at his hands as his fingers twisted the diamond on his finger, strong knuckles jutting out. 

"I didn't," she said, "I just got here."

"Well, it was unlocked, so..."

"Everything seems to be unlocked around you, now, don't it?"

Oof. Burn.

The mechanic then went into a story about the lady who started the house of wax, how she'd gotten sick, started rotting away. How her husband couldn't handle it. How the children had been stuck in foster care. 

By the time he finished the story, they were at his truck, and he stopped, opening the door. "Why don't you three hop in while I go get the fan belt and when I come back I'll give ya a ride back to the road before I look at the other car?"

"Nah, actually, we got some friends picking us up," said Carly, glancing over at Lily, "you're welcome to hitch a ride with us, if you'd like." 

"I'll give you a ride there then. Least I can do for making yall wait."

"Cool."

"Alright."

Lily started to follow Carly into the truck, only for the mechanic to grab her arm gently. "Oh uh, you said you needed to use the facilities?"

Lily followed the two into the house, stopping at the doorway. The house smelled of oil, pine, something copper-like, and cologne. It was slightly intoxicating.

"Bathroom's just down the hall," he said, "let me just get out of this jacket and tie and I'll grab the fan belt."

———-

Lily stood patiently outside the bathroom door, tapping her foot on the ground, looking around to distract herself from the burning in her bladder. 

Clearly, Wade had never heard of ladies first. 

When he finally stepped out, she sighed in relief, running into the small room and slamming the door behind her. 

Once her business was done, she stood in front of the mirror for a second, taking in her appearance. Her hair was a wild, crazy mess, sticking out in every direction, the very definition of wind blown, her mascara slightly smeared on her face. All in all, she looked a mess, but she had been cooped up for days until the point when her car had failed her. 

She was snapped out of her analysis of her reflection by a shout, and she gasped, throwing the door open, calling out, "Wade? Was that you? Are you alright?"

She only made it a couple steps before the mechanic was in front of her, a dark look hiding behind his eyes, making it look almost as if there was a thunderstorm behind the irises. 

"I'm sorry, pretty girl," he said, raising his fist. "But I really need to see if this is real."

And all fades into black.  
——————-

She wakes to the sound of rock music and her name being yelled in the most disturbing of tones, pain and desperation laced in the sound. 

"Lily! Lily please!"

It takes a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dark, but when they do, she wants to puke. 

Carly is in a medical chair, thrashing around wildly as the mechanic begins to strap her in, leather straps going around her wrists. 

"Carly!" She shouts, attempting to run to her, only to realize she can't move. Looking down, she chokes out a sob when she sees the tape wrapped around her wrists and ankles, keeping them together.

The mechanic moves away from Carly once she's strapped, moving over to crouch in front of Lily, his hand raising to wipe away a few tears. Lily thinks Carly must have put up a good fight, seeing as he was now sporting a large, quickly yellowing bruise on his cheek. "Don't cry, pretty girl," he says, his blue eyes strangely soft. "Would never hurt you."

Lily makes a strangled sound, confused. "But you have!" She cries, thrashing in an attempt to break free of the tape holding her hostage. "Oh my god, why are you doing this, you don't have to do this!"

The words are pouring out of her mouth in attempts to get him to rethink his actions, but she knows it's all futile. She's trapped, and there's nothing she can do.

And then there are voices from above, calling out for someone in the station. Carly seems to recognize them, opening her mouth, but the mechanic is faster, hand going to cover her mouth, a switchblade to her throat. "One word from either of you," he says, pressing the knife closer, "and this is going through her throat."

It doesn't take long for them to leave, but Lily doesn't breathe the whole time, terrified of making a sound. 

Once they're gone, the mechanic grins over at Lily, pulling out a tube of something. "That's a good girl," he says, bringing the tube to his mouth, using his teeth to open it. He then proceeds to bring it down to Carly's mouth.

"Don't move," he says as she whimpers, turning her head away from him. "Shh, just stay still," he slowly starts to apply the contents of the tube, "Shame we have to close that pretty mouth of yours, specially' the way those lips curve," he leans forward as if to kiss her, but instead blows on the glue on her lips, "too bad I got my mate now though, you don't got nothing on her."

The mechanic let's go of Carly's face, coming over to kneel in front of Lily, tube of glue still in his hands. He reaches out, fingertips just barely grazing over her cheek, and she sobs, shaking her head, pleas pouring from her mouth. 

"Please don't," she cries, jerking away from him, "don't want you to, please, don't."

She doesn't know why, but the idea of her lips being glued shut is terrifying to her, even more than the prospect of dying.

The mechanic frowns, glancing down as if he'd forgotten he was holding the glue. "Don't worry, pretty girl," he whispers, his breath gently caressing her face. "This isn't for you, never for you," the tube hits the floor, bouncing once and then no more as he drops it, "but make one sound and I'll put that knife right through her throat," his hand is cupping her cheek now, thumb gently caressing, catching the falling tears. 

Lily sobs harder. "Why are you doing this," she whines, trying to pull away from his touch, whimpering when his other hand goes to the back of her head, holding her still.

He doesn't answer her question. "I'm sorry it had to go like this," he whispers, "but I'll make it up to you once this is over, I swear."

He let's go of her and leaves, and she watches in utter confusion.  
————-

"I'm looking for my sister and her boyfriend, they were lookin for a fan belt or something?"

Carly starts struggling, trying to make enough noise for the boy above to hear, but lily remains still, all her hope lost.

If the boy manages to hear them, the mechanic will most likely kill him, and then turn his wrath to Carly, putting the knife through her throat just like he'd promised, so she keeps quiet, trying to silently convey to Carly that she's protecting her with her quietness.

"Sorry, haven't seen em."

The reply is short, curt, and dismissive.

"Isn't this the only gas station? They were definitely here." The boy sounds skeptical. Lily silently urges him to give up, to stop pushing, just turn and run, leave them to their fates. But alas, he does not. 

"I just told you I didn't see them." The mechanic's voice has an edge to it. 

"Doesn't someone else work here?"

Lily sobs harder. Leave, she wants to yell, just go.

"No, I own the station," the mechanic growls,"and I woulda seen em'." 

"Well, I was just here and you didn't see me," says the boy, "in fact you weren't even here."

"Sorry, I cant help you."

Finally, Carly manages to put a metal object up to the vent, along with her finger, screaming behind her glued lips.

"What was that?" 

Lily doesn't understand why Carly is doing this. Does she not understand she's going to get the guy killed? There is no help for them, not anymore.

"Nothing, was just my dog."

"Actually, you know what, my brother Vincent was down her for a while earlier, he coulda helped your sister out," the mechanic says, and Lily sees him come to a stop to stand on the vent. "He could be up at the house." He points, before getting to his knees, starting to tie his shoes. 

They continue to talk, but all Lily can focus on is Carly's finger, and the pliers the mechanic has in his hand. She lets out a whine, pointing up in warning, but it's too late. Carly screams in pain behind her glued lips, the remains of her finger gushing blood out.

Lily wants to puke, the sound of the bone crunching getting to her. 

"Stop!" Lily whisper yells as the mechanic begins to walk away with the boy, Carly trying to pull her lips apart, skin ripping. "You heard him, if you make a sound he'll kill you!" 

Carly does not heed her warning, continuing to pull. Lily briefly wonders if she's the only one who has any sense in this town. 

"NICK!" Carly screams, lips free and bleeding, "NICK HELP ME! IM DOWN HERE!"

There's the sound of a struggle up ahead for a while. 

"NICK!" Carly yells again.

"Carly?!" The boy, who lily assumes is nick, yells back from above.

"We're downstairs!"

And then the door is kicked open, Carly whispering, "thank god."

Lily lets out a breath. 

The boy races forth, quickly undoing some of Carly's restraints. 

"Watch the finger, watch the finger!" She warns.

"Oh my god," nick said, holding her hand up, "he did this to you?" He glances over at Lily, stepping away from her sister to peel the duct tape off, the scars on her wrist crying out in protest. 

"Where is he?" Lily asks, looking around, standing up and helping Carly with the rest of her restraints, moving on to wrap her hand. Infection wouldn't be good for the finger.

"I locked him out," says Nick, grabbing something from a box. "Where's Wade?"

"I don't know," Carly cries, "he went into the house."

"He came out of the bathroom as I was going in," Lily mutters, biting her lip. "Last I saw of him. That mechanic knocked me out soon as I walked out the door."

————

"No!" Lily and Carly shout at the same time, Nick having gone to try and bust out the house of wax window. 

"It'll make too much noise!" Lily said, holding his arm back. 

"Why do you have to be so damn stubborn? He will find us." Carly added.

"Yeah, chances are he will anyway. At least with this he might know what he's dealing with." And then he throws the thing through the window, busting it open. 

Nick crawls in, stopping to take a crossbow from one of the wax figures hands. "That's about right," he says.

Lily stares up at him for a second, and then there's a loud boom, glass shattering even more. Looking back, there stands the mechanic, a shotgun in his hands, eyes dark.

They run. Into the movie theater doors, past the ticket booth, past the beauty pageant wax figures, and into a movie. Quickly they each find a seat, sitting still, trying to mimic the wax figures as the old woman on the screen sings.

"I know you're in here," the mechanic says as he walks in, counting the heads of the wax figures. Lily shivers. How many had died? 

The mechanic walks around, stopping to point his gun at a few wax figures, even once jabbing one in the head. He makes his way slowly to the front of the room, turning around, eyes narrowing as he holds up his gun. 

Carly screams, ducking quickly as the gun fires, a wax figure's head getting blown off. The smell is horrible, and Lily fights back a gag, only to scream when pain rips through her arm. She whips her head around, seeing the mechanic with an arrow in his arm, right where hers was now bleeding. Shaking her head, she thinks the bullet must have grazed her on it way to meet its target, there's no other option.

The mechanic stands, and Lily, Carly, and Nick run as he lets off another shot, another wax head getting blown off. 

He follows them through the door, only to sneer when he sees Nick standing with a crossbow pointed at him. 

Lily can't make sense of what happens next, only that nick shoots, and suddenly she's on the ground, tears pouring from her eyes the same way blood pours from the holes in her arm and chest. 

"Oh, my god." Carly whispers, staring down at the redhead. "She..," she trails off, not sure how to put the thought into words.

"Yeah," Nick states. "That's what she is."

And that's all Lily knows as she's hoisted up and all goes dark. Again. 

————  
Lily wakes to the sound of a door being shoved open. Her eyes lock on Carly's, who raises a finger to her lips, pointing ahead. 

She glances around, recognizing the mechanic's house from before, freezing in fear as her eyes land on the man in question, grunting and stumbling around, before the pain hits her.

She whimpers, throwing her hand over her mouth, tears coming to her eyes as realization blooms.

Everyone in the world was two halves of a whole, born to share both pain and happiness. Certain events fell together, suddenly making so much more sense. Why he'd stroked her face, why he hadn't glued her lips the way he'd done Carly's, why he'd even tried to comfort her in his own way. 

She was his other. His mate. Oh, dear god, she was his mate.

He was leaned against the kitchen sink doing something, and Lily bit down hard on her hand to keep from screaming when the pain through her arm let her know exactly just what he was doing, a mark she knew would show up on him just as it would her. 

A truck pulled up outside and Carly looked out the window, choking quietly on sobs when she saw her friends lying in the back, bloody and dead.

Lily felt guilt wash over her. She wasn't the one who killed them, but she wasn't not the one who killed them either. He was her, she was him, two halves of the same soul. 

"I'm so, so sorry," she whispered, laying a bloody hand on Carly's arm, only for the other girl to shove it off. 

"Don't touch me. You and your mate," she spat the word like it was poison on her tongue, "have done enough damage, don't you think?" 

Lily didn't answer. 

The mechanic opened the door, screaming out, "hey! Don't you ever leave here without me, you know better than that!"

Another man, tall with long black hair, and a strange mask on his face walked in, making his way towards the mechanic, reaching out for the arrow in their... his.. chest. 

"Don't!" He snapped, only for the taller man to try again. "I said don't! Now get." He snarled, but the man didn't move. "Get! You fucking freak."

"The town's lookin' real good. We almost finished what mama started. Those two are good, they'll fit perfect," there was a hint of a grin in his voice as he continued, "what'd I tell you, huh? Ain't your work more real now? Ma would be proud, she'd be real proud.  
————

Nick had grabbed Carly and Lily, leading them to a door that led under the house, and that's where they were now, standing in front of Dalton, covered in wax.

"Let's get you out of there," nick said, reaching forward and pulling on the contraption, only for Dalton's head to snap off.

Lily took a couple steps back, staring at the dead corpse. Just a kid, his whole life ahead of him, now reduced to nothing but a sick, twisted art project. 

Suddenly the tall man in the wax mask barged in with two knives. 

"That's Vincent!" Carly yelled.

Nick flipped a table at him, shoving him against a wall, and Vincent slashed out, knife raking across Nick.

Somehow, and Lily couldn't really tell you how, a fire had been accidentally started. 

Lily simply stared. 

"Come on, Carly, move it," Nick grabbed his sister up, before running. Lily followed. 

She stopped when her eyes landed on a high chair with the name Bo on it, leather cuffs made onto it, thick, old, dried brown blood stained all over. She touched her wrist, rubbing her finger over the scars. This is where they'd come from. 

A monster. They'd called him a monster. She flinched as the scene played out in her head. He was just a little boy. He'd needed love, and instead he'd gotten pain. 

"You sick fuck!" 

The sound of scruffling.

And then pain. Horrible pain in her chest. Lily ran up the rest of the way, seeing Nick with his hand on the arrow in Bo, who screamed and fell.

Lily felt it all. Felt the knuckles digging into Bo's face as if it was her own, felt the blood begin to pour from not just his, but her own nose. Pain. Everyone was just always giving him pain. 

"Bo," she said, testing out the name on her tongue, and his eyes flicked over to her as knuckles once again met flesh. Another trickle of blood fell from her nose. "My Bo..."

She didn't know if she was in shock, or if she was losing her mind, but everything felt like it was floating, and somehow, somewhere, in the last twenty minutes, her loyalty had shifted. 

He managed to get a knife out of his pocket, burying it into Nick's leg. Nick fell back, Bo scrambling to his feet, when Carly suddenly whacked him in the head with a bat. 

Lily cried out, vision blurring, her feet moving of their own volition. She tackled the other girl to the ground knocking the bat from her hands. "If you're going to fight," she said," at least make it fair," struggling to keep Carly's hands away from any of the wounds on her body, she shoved her elbow on the girl's neck. "Two against one isn't right."

"Lily!" Nick called, struggling to get up, but failing. "Lily! I swear, if you—," he was cut off, a scream tearing through his throat as the knife was ripped out of his leg.

Vincent had made it up the stairs. He simply kicked Nick, knocking him down, before turning away and heading towards his brother, who was panting on the ground. He grabbed his face, checking the injuries, letting out a long, haunting cry before turning towards lily and Carly. 

Lily gulped, fear invading her senses as the wax man walked towards her. 

"Vincent!" Nick yelled. "Don't hurt my sister! Vincent!"

A hand grasped her shoulder, firm but surprisingly gentle. Lily looked up at the wax face, staring into His one eye, searching. Concern, pain, anger, rage.

"Go to Bo." He said, voice stiff and strange sounding.

Lily nodded quickly, sliding off Carly, running over to the man she'd been running from all day. "...Bo?" She said, reaching a hand towards him.

He looked up at the hand, taking it softly, hoisting himself up. "Just a minute, baby girl," he said, taking a step towards nick, who had risen from his spot on the ground and was trying to make his way to Vincent. "I've got a little work to do, then we can go talk, okay?" 

Lily nodded, stepping away, blood, snot, and tears streaming down her face. 

She was so confused. She should be helping Carly and nick, but here she was, watching as Bo whispered something in Vincent's ear, who then dropped Carly, walking towards Nick with a knife, raising it high. 

"No! Lily! Lily please!" Carly cried, only to be cut off by a crunching sound. Bo had used the bat she'd previously used on him, slapping her hard across the face with it.

"I'm so tired of you and your friends thinking y'all can touch what's mine," he said, shaking his head, "I mean, the fan belt, breaking into my house, that's one thing," he twirled the bat in his hands, laughing as Carly sobbed at the choking sounds Nick made when Vincent dug his knife into his throat. "But touching my mate? That was your biggest mistake." And the bat comes down, a sick, wet sound echoing through the air as he beats the dead girl on the ground, not stopping til her face is unrecognizable, the same way she would have done to him.

"Sorry, Vinny," he says, attempting to wipe blood off his face, only succeeding in smearing it. "Don't think you'll be able to fix them. Might wanna go put that fire out." He reaches forward, his hand locking on Lily's. "My girl and I need to have a chat."  
————


End file.
